Public key cryptography is typically used for secure communications over the Internet, for example, to distribute secret keys used in cryptographic algorithms. Public key cryptography is also used in digital signatures to authenticate the origin of data and protect the integrity of that data. Commonly used public key algorithms include Rivert, Shamir, Aldeman (RSA) and Diffie-Hellman key exchange (DH). The public key algorithm may be used to authenticate keys for encryption algorithms such as the Data Encryption Standard (DES) and the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).
RSA and DH provide security based on the use of number theory. RSA is based on factoring the product of two large prime numbers. DH is based on a discrete logarithm for finite groups. Typically, public key systems use 1024-bit parameters for RSA and DH.
The Elliptic Curve Cryptosystem (ECC) is a relatively new public key algorithm that is based on the arithmetic of elliptic curves. ECC provides the same level of security as RSA and DH but uses parameters having fewer bits than parameters used by RSA or DH. For example, to authenticate an 80-bit key, 1024-bit parameters are recommended for the RSA and DH public key algorithms and 160-bit parameters are recommended for the ECC algorithm. For a 128-bit key 3072-bit parameters are recommended for the RSA and DS public key algorithms and 224-bit parameters are recommended for the ECC algorithm.
Elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) provides more security than traditional cryptosystems based on integer fields for much smaller key-sizes. It is very efficient from the perspectives of computes, power, storage and bandwidth to transmit keys. It scales much better than the traditional schemes and is therefore likely to gain more popularity with increased need for higher security strengths. Elliptic curves are algebraic/geometric objects that have been extensively studied by mathematicians. These curves can be applied to cryptography by suitably defining the underlying field and constraining the parameters such that the points on the curve form a Group (suggested in 1985 independently by Neil Koblitz and Victor Miller).
Elliptic curves for cryptographic applications are defined over prime fields (Galois Field Prime (GFP)) and binary fields (Galois Field Binary (GF2m)) GFP and GF2m both have a finite number of points that form a mathematical Group structure. The points can be operated on by special “addition” or “subtraction” operations. For any two points P1 and P2 in the group: P3=P1+P2 is defined. After point-addition has been defined, the basic building blocks of any cryptosystem are computations of the form Q=[k]P. The operation [k]P may be referred to as scalar point multiplication. This can be defined as P added to itself (k−1) times. Note that 1<=k<ord(P), where “ord” is defined as the order of the element of the group. Given P and [k]P, it is computationally infeasible to recover k.
Although the following Detailed Description will proceed with reference being made to illustrative embodiments of the claimed subject matter, many alternatives, modifications, and variations thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, it is intended that the claimed subject matter be viewed broadly, and be defined only as set forth in the accompanying claims.